The last time Yale (14–4 overall, 9–1 Ivy League) lost a league match was on Nov. 5, 2022 in Dillon Gymnasium against the Princeton Tigers (10–10, 8–2). Since then, they have had a perfect record playing among the Ancient Eight.
On Friday night, the Tigers ended Yale’s 28-match win streak in the Ivy League and 30-game win streak at home, overcoming the Bulldogs 3–1 (24–26, 25–20, 25–19, 25–18) in an impressive display.
Less than 48 hours later, Princeton played on national television against Brown, beating the Bears 3–2 (25–23, 25–19, 20–25, 15–25, 15–9) in a five-set thriller.
Despite the wins, the Tigers still sit second in the Ivy League standings but will likely head to New Haven, Conn. later this month for the Ivy League tournament. The No. 1 seed hosts the league tournament and the winner of the tournament gets an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
“I think they [the wins] are huge for confidence and knowing that we can win the Ivy Tournament and continue on to the NCAA Tournament,” Head Coach Sabrina King wrote to The Daily Princetonian.
A perfect game for Chaney
Princeton struggled at the start of the first set against Yale, falling behind 10–2 after a series of runs by the Bulldogs. The team rallied back from this to tie it up at 14–14 following a kill from junior middle blocker Lucia Scalamandre. A 4–0 run by Yale and the two sides trading points back and forth sealed the first set for the Bulldogs 26–24.
“After the first set loss to Yale, we knew the score would have been different had we not let up several points in the first part of the set,” King said. “Our passing needed to settle, but the other parts of our game were clicking.”
Sophomore outside hitter Kamryn Chaney followed up her seven kills from the first set with a kill to begin the second. Chaney led the team with 25 kills across all four sets. More impressively, she recorded no errors, 13 digs, and a 0.532 hitting percentage.
“[Chaney] has been incredible the entire season,” coach King noted. “She has shown a knack for really turning it up against the toughest competition and in the tightest moments.
Near consecutive 3–0 runs by the Tigers put them up 9–4 early in the second set following a kill by junior outside hitter Valerie Nutakor. Three more 3–0 runs saw the Tigers prevail in the second set 25–20 with kills from Chaney, Scalamandre, and sophomore middle blocker Ava Harrington throughout.
With the score now tied at 1–1, the Tigers went on a 5–0 run midway through the third set to lead 9–5, ignited by a kill from first-year middle blocker Jackie Onyechi. The Tigers wouldn’t fall behind for the rest of the set, comfortably beating Yale 25–19 to claim the third set and go up 2–1.
The Tigers faced a mountain of pressure, as a victory in the fourth set would snap Yale’s winning streak and strengthen their Ivy League and NCAA campaign. They began the fourth set with an early 3–1 lead, but Yale would not give up easily — the Bulldogs went point-to-point to bring the match to 13–11.
An 8–2 run helped by kills from Harrington, Onyechi, and Chaney pushed them into a big 21–13 lead. Harrington, for her part, would end the match with six kills, six blocks, and a 0.667 hitting percentage with a solid all-round display.
Three kills by Chaney to end the final set saw Princeton ease through 25–18, and they claimed a 3–1 victory in the match. Chaney, Scalamandre, and Nutakor led the Tigers in kills with 25, 12, and 11 respectively.
This victory avenged their prior 3–1 loss to Yale earlier in the season while boosting them up the Ivy League standings.
“Any one night of success is built from months of hard work,” King wrote to the ‘Prince’ about the team’s victory. “We are a great team and when we play well and play together, we are hard to beat. Against Yale, we were all very locked in, and once we caught momentum, we did not give it up.”
Tigers beat Bruno on national television
In a rematch of last year’s Ivy League tournament semifinal, the Tigers came out on top and completed the season sweep of the Bears.
The first set was a back-and-forth affair. When Princeton held a slim 22–21 lead late in the set, a kill from Onyechi and an ace from Bold sealed a 25–23 win for the Tigers in set one.
In the second set, the Tigers came out strong right away. A kill from Nutakor put the Tigers up 7–3. Bruno responded, however, tying the game at eight. A 9–4 run by Princeton highlighted by a kill from Harrington put the Tigers up 17–12. From there, the Tigers did not look back, going on to win the second set 25–19 and take a commanding 2–0 lead.
Despite going down 2–0, Brown refused to back down. The third set was close, with a 13–13 tie midway, but a kill and an ace from the hosts were part of a larger 5–1 run that put them up 18–14. Despite Princeton’s efforts to come back, Brown held on to win the third set 25–19.
With the fourth set tied at 9, the Bears went on a 7–0 run to open up a 16–9 lead. The run was highlighted by two kills and an ace from outside hitter Mariia Sidorova, who finished the match with a career-high 26 kills. With the renewed momentum, Brown won comfortably 25–15, forcing a fifth set.
“Going into the fifth set at Brown, I just said that I hadn’t seen the best version of our team yet that whole night, so now was the chance to show it, and they did,” King noted.
The best version of the Tigers came out right away in the fifth set as a 4–0 run highlighted by two Brown errors and a Chaney kill put Princeton up 6–2. The Tigers kept pushing, going up 10–4 and putting the game out of reach. Scalamandre sealed the win for the Tigers with two kills to give Princeton the fifth set win 15–9 and the match 3–2. Chaney once again came up big for Princeton, finishing the match with 19 kills to bring her weekend total to 44.
Next up for the Tigers is a Friday night matchup at home against the Cornell Big Red (12–7, 6–4). The Big Red sit third in the Ivy League standings and will look to avenge a 3–1 loss to the Tigers in Ithaca earlier this season.
Hayk Yengibaryan is an associate Sports editor and News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Alex Beverton-Smith is an assistant Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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